Diary of a food-loving Central New Yorker

Christmas

12/11/2011

Every Christmas season has its misadventures: the gift thoughtfully purchased in July that can’t be located when you're ready to wrap it. The string of bulbs that worked when you tested them but won’t light on the tree. The cookies that crumble as you’re lifting them from the baking sheet.

The Guinness Stout Ginger Cake that fails to rise properly. Ah, yes. Robert was excited to make this dessert for Christmas dinner last year, but inadvertently omitted the baking powder when assembling the cake’s dry ingredients. The result was a short Stout cake rather than a tall one.

He re-baked it in the wee small hours of Christmas morning, bless his heart. But not before a shopping expedition for Guinness Stout in Bridgeport, NY – a one-stoplight and three-convenience store village -- on Christmas Eve.

Guinness Stout Ginger Cake is a grand dessert, as memorable for its flavor and presentation as it is for the story behind it. It’s full-bodied in texture and a little outspoken in taste, thanks to molasses, fresh ginger, ground ginger, cloves and cardamom.

Looking for a festive finish to a holiday dinner party? This is it. Don't forget the baking powder!

While the cake bakes, prepare a big bowl of lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Grammercy Tavern Guinness Stout Ginger Cake

You will need:

1 cup Guinness Stout

1 cup molasses

½ teaspoon baking soda

3 large eggs

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

¾ cup vegetable oil

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons ground ginger

1½ teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

1 tablespoon grated, peeled fresh gingerroot

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 6-cup Bundt pan.

In a large saucepan over high heat, combine the stout and molasses and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the baking soda. Allow to sit until the foam dissipates.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together the eggs and both sugars. Whisk in the oil.

In a separate bowl, which together the flour, ground ginger, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cardamom.

Combine the stout mixture with the egg mixture, then whisk the liquid into the flour mixture, half at a time. Add the fresh ginger and stir to combine.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 1 hour, or until the top springs back when gently pressed. Do not open the oven until the gingerbread is almost done or the center will fall slightly. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

12/17/2010

The winner of the first annual Eat First homemade holiday cookie giveaway is Elizabeth Wimer, of Syracuse (@erwimer on Twitter).

Elizabeth loves to bake, so I know she will like sampling a small selection (baker's dozen) of cookies from someone else's kitchen and having a new, seasonal cookie cutter to play with.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and took the time to leave a comment. It's nice to have visitors!

I'll be having a couple giveaways in January. The first will be a giveaway of some gently used cookbooks (January seems like a good time to do some housekeeping) and the second will be a giveaway of -- gasp! -- something red and in a can.

12/15/2010

Duh! I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier: It's time for the first annual Eat First Christmas cookie giveaway!

Free to a good home: a selection of 13 (a baker's dozen) homemade holiday cookies. Your winnings will include six thin and crispy cut-out cookies like the one shown above (now slightly smudged, because Wilton's decorating gels in a tube don't exactly firm up, even after an hour in the freezer, live and learn!).

The baker's dozen will also include a couple cut-outs decorated with colored sugars only, a couple decorated gingerbread cut-outs and a couple lemon-poppyseed crisps (right).

To enter: Please leave a comment in the comment field below. You must be a resident of Syracuse or Central New York and you must pick up your cookies in person at a time and place TBA. Family members excluded. A winner will be selected at random, notified by e-mail and announced here.

03/07/2010

I couldn't get by each day without our hard-working refrigerator-freezer and basic but reliable coffeemaker. But the award for Outstanding Performance by a Kitchen Appliance in a Leading Role goes to: my trusty KitchenAid Classic Plus stand mixer.
I've had her for going on 20 years now and she occupies a choice corner of our limited, old-house counter space -- unlike lesser-used and lesser-loved appliances that are relegated to the basement shelves for storage.

She's made countless cakes and loaves of bread, hundreds of batches of cookie dough and turns out a bowl fluffy whipped cream in a snap. My "other" isn't as much into baking as I am, but he, too, has come to appreciate the stand mixer's speed, efficiency and ease of operation.
I saw a lot of KitchenAid mixer attachments leave the store during my holiday stint at Williams-Sonoma, including the meat grinder and various pasta attachments, but I've never used anything other than the tools that come with it: the flat/paddle beater, wire whip and dough hook.

I did buy an attachment called a Side Swipe blade, which is not made by KitchenAid. The gizmo, which cost about $25, has little silicone "fins'' that act like a spatula, scraping the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl -- no need to stop and do that by hand.

The tool comes in handy when making, say, chocolate chip cookie dough: The bowl gets "scraped'' and the chocolate chips and nuts don't get crushed.

Several years ago, my other got me a second stainless steel bowl for my mixer, which is very useful during marathon baking sessions -- no need to stop and wash the bowl between cookie batches.

And with the sun out and spring and summer on the way, I'm daydreaming about the $99 ice cream bowl attachment I spotted at the KitchenAid Web site. I'd use it just to make fat-free fruit sorbets, right?!?
The KitchenAid stand mixer comes in several models now (Artisan series, Pro, etc.) and lots of cool colors, like kiwi green, candy apple red and carnation pink, but the Classic Plus, in basic white, meets my needs and aesthetics just fine. I think I paid $159 for it way back when and it paid for itself in use and enjoyment a long time ago.
The thing has been with me through thick (cheesecake and lemon extract cake batters; mashed potatoes) and thin (devil's food cake batter) and has never once failed to start or get the job done. Even when I've doubled a recipe and pushed the bowl and the machine to its limits, and even at Christmastime, when it's in use almost daily.

They call it KitchenAid, but I call it KitchenWarrior. And KitchenFriend.

12/14/2009

I have many favorite Christmas moments each year: listening to my favorite holiday CD, Chuck Leavell's "What's In That Bag?'' once again; pulling Aunt Anne's handmade ceramic tree with tiny lights out of its box and plugging it in; seeing Bailey's giddy reaction to fresh fallen snow; driving around town, usually with Mom, to see some of the spectacular light displays people go to great lengths to stage at their homes.

No matter how busy things get, the holiday season wouldn't be complete without a trip to Hercules Candy Co., in the village of East Syracuse, to pick up some homemade candy canes for gift- giving and personal enjoyment.

The candy canes cost 85 cents each and come in three minty-fresh flavors: wintergreen, spearmint and peppermint.

I'm partial to the wintergreen, but they're all delicious.

The canes also come in raspberry and root beer flavors. I haven't tried those. Yet.

In this day and age, when you can pick up a box of dozen candy canes for $1 or less at Walgreens or Wal-Mart, candy-making the way it's done at Hercules is fast becoming a lost art.

No machinery, other than a stove, is used to make their chocolates, filled chocolates, chocolate-covered potato chips, peanut brittle, mint bark and other specialties. Chocolate and other ingredients are purchased directly from the producer. Nuts are roasted on site.

The couple are the third generation of the Andrianos family to make candy in East Syracuse. The shop was originally on West Manlius Street, the main drag, but moved to the family home on West Heman Street during the Great Depression.

Steve Andrianos started making candy when he was 12, learning from his parents and grandfather, and always dreamed of running the business. He has done so since 1977, and turned it into a year-round operation in the late 1980s, thanks to the addition of an air conditioning system.

If you stop in to pick up some candy this holiday season -- and you absolutely positively must -- ask if anyone is making candy. You may be invited downstairs to have a look at works in progress. Group tours are available, but must be arranged in advance.
Filled chocolates, ready to be boxed.

Hercules Candy Co. is at 209 W. Heman St., off Kinne Street, in East Syracuse. From Thanksgiving to Easter, the store is open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 463-4339.

11/06/2009

I know. You don't want to think about it. Neither do I. But it's November and the holidays are around the corner.

I'm keenly aware of this because a) I'm not working full-time at the moment and watching my spending like never before; b) I started a seasonal part-time job at Williams-Sonomathis week and c) I'm attending a holiday open house atMetro Home Style, a great little home decor shop at the Regional Market Commons, this evening. The event is co-hosted by neighbor business Bohemian Beans Cafe.

And I know the odds are good, dear reader, that you will either be hosting a holiday party in the weeks ahead or invited to a party (or two or three) where you're asked to bring something to the table, like your favorite hors d'oeuvre.

The beauty of hors d'oeuvres is that they are easier to make than they are to spell, and they go down easy, too, especially in a party situation, where one hand inevitably holds a glass of wine or (insert your favorite adult beverage here).

Blanched asparagus wrapped in prosciutto; dinner group, Jan. 2009

I volunteered to make a couple of appetizers for Metro Home Style owner Linda O'Boyle, and she happily accepted. We settled on two "apps" that wouldn't require any heating from "Party Snacks,'' a book Linda is selling at the store. It features "50 simple, stylish recipes to make you a popular party host.''

Spicy Cheese Balls, and the book.

I don't know about that, but I do know that the recipe on the book's cover, Pretty Party Pinwheels, and the Spicy Cheese Balls (page 29) were pretty much a snap to make.

If I tell you how to make both of these right now, I'm not going to have enough time to clean up the kitchen, slice the party pinwheels and pack them in a portable container, figure out which platters to bring and, most importantly, take a shower.

But I'll tell you real quickly how to make the Spicy Cheese Balls. These are a bite-size alternative to the ubiquitous hulking cheese ball covered with nuts you often see at parties.

You will need:

1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup grated sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese (orange)

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less, depending on your taste)

1 teaspoon black pepper

Half a teaspoon of salt

2 tablespoons or more Italian parsley, finely chopped

1 cup chopped, toasted nuts (walnuts or pecans)

Combine all ingredients EXCEPT the nuts in the bowl of a food processor, blending and scraping the bowl down a couple of times. Transfer the cheese mixture to a bowl and refrigerate for an hour or more. Toast nuts and place in a shallow dish.

Line a large baking sheet or dish with waxed paper. Using a teaspoon measure or a cookie scoop if you have one, roll the cheese mixture into small balls, then roll in nuts to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Rolling a cheese ball in nuts to coat.

Take cheese balls out of the fridge about a half-hour before serving. Place a party pick in each cheese ball and serve with your favorite crackers. Makes 30 to 35 cheese balls, depending on size.